PAMPHYLIA, the region in the south of Asia Minor, be tween Lydia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mt. Taurus. It was bounded on the north by Pisidia and was a coun try of small extent, having a coast-line of about 75 miles with a breadth of about 3o miles. There can be little doubt that the Pamphylians and Pisidians were originally the same people ; but the distinction between the two seems to have been established at an early period. Herodotus, who does not mention the Pisidi ans, enumerates the Pamphylians (i. 28) among the nations of Asia Minor, while Ephorus mentions them both, correctly in cluding the one among the nations on the coast, the other among those of the interior. The early Pamphylians, like the Lycians, had an alphabet of their own, partly Greek, partly "Asianic," which a few inscriptions on marble and coins preserve. Under the Romans the term Pamphylia was extended to include Pisidia and the whole tract up to the frontiers of Phrygia and Lycaonia. The country consisted almost entirely of a plain.
The chief towns on the coast were : Olbia, the first town in Pamphylia, near the Lycian frontier; Attaleia (q.v.) ; and Side (q.v.). On a hill above the Eurymedon stood Aspendus (q.v.)
and above the river Cestrus was Perga (q.v.). Between the two rivers, but somewhat farther inland, stood Sylleum, a strong fortress, which even ventured to defy the arms of Alexander. The coins of Aspendus, though of Greek character, bear legends in a barbarous dialect; and probably the Pamphylians were of Asi atic origin and mixed race. They became largely hellenized in Roman times, and have left magnificent memorials of their civ ilization at Perga, Aspendus and Side. The Pamphylians are first mentioned among the nations subdued by the Mermnad kings of Lydia, and afterwards passed in succession under the dominion of the Persian and Macedonian monarchs. After the defeat of Antiochus III. in 190 B.C. they were included among the provinces annexed by the Romans to the dominions of Eumenes of Perga mum; later they joined with the Pisidians and Cilicians in pirat ical ravages. Pamphylia was for a short time included in the dominions of Amyntas, king of Galatia, but after his death lapsed into a district of a Roman province.